Worried about disney cuts affecting trip

[gaffz70]

I was watching the news about Disney offering buyouts to exec's and reports of them needing to make cutbacks in this economy. I understand their position completely but do worry about how this may affect our trip later this year. I made sure we saved for this trip and just worry that we won't get as much for our $ this time. Just curious if anyone else shared the same concerns.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-disney22-2009jan22,0,7468692.story[/url]

[MOJoe]

Don't worry. Disney tries very hard to make sure guests at WDW have fun and get their money's worth. They want you to come back.
Sure the economy affects them, as it does everyone. But if you go expecting to find shortcomings, you probably will find some. If, however you go, expecting to have a great time, chances are you won't let some little thing that someone left undone bother you.

I know a Disney vacation cost a lot, but you can put me in the camp that asks, "How can they afford to do all this?" I always believe i get my money's worth. That keeps me coming back.

[DizneyRox]

Sadly, I don't share the same sentiment. Over the past few years, the value HAS been diminishing by leaps and bounds. These times just give them more fuel for the fire.

I'm really nervous about our upcoming trip and the changes that are in store. I can't expect it could get much worse, but they surprise me everytime with some new cutback or elimination. At least it's management this time and not soe of the front line CMs. That's where you'd really see an impact.

[JPL]

Sad to report that Disney has cut back on CM hours, food variety and portion size, cancelled live entertainment, shorter park hours and cutback on bus transportation all in the name of profit while continuing to raise prices. The days of the guest enjoyment coming are a thing of the past. Granted I still love going to WDW but the value for your $$$ is dropping.

[princessgirls]

Sad to report that Disney has cut back on CM hours, food variety and portion size, cancelled live entertainment, shorter park hours and cutback on bus transportation all in the name of profit while continuing to raise prices. The days of the guest enjoyment coming are a thing of the past. Granted I still love going to WDW but the value for your $$$ is dropping.

Not good news for the consumer, is it...

Hopefully it's not too noticeable. Like messy, dirty, and out of control. Then Disney would be just like going to Six Flags...LOL! Why bother!
Julie:mickey:

[TheRustyScupper]

1) No problem.
2) The BIG cuts don't occur until after you vacation.

[princessgirls]

1) No problem.
2) The BIG cuts don't occur until after you vacation.

Is that post for me???
We go to the World March 21-28. I hope. I really hope that we don't notice changes, because it would really break my heart.
Julie:mickey:

[CaptainJessicaSparrow]

You will notice because you can already notice.

I haven't had any hours cut yet (thankfully and knock on every redwood tree in the world) but I have a feeling it's coming.

[jonahbear2006]

I am very worried about this affecting my trip this year, actually. And, It is true about the dining aspect. I have read all of the menus and they all have basically the same food. It is disappointing. A small part of me is considering taking the family somewhere else this year instead bc I feel like it's so expensive and what are we really getting out of it. I love Disney with every beat of my heart but but but....they are starting to get to me with all the cutbacks and not only are the cutbacks going to affect our trip but I am starting to feel bitter about it.

[DizneyRox]

A small part of me is considering taking the family somewhere else this year instead bc I feel like it's so expensive and what are we really getting out of it. I love Disney with every beat of my heart but but but....they are starting to get to me with all the cutbacks and not only are the cutbacks going to affect our trip but I am starting to feel bitter about it.
This is what Disney needs to see... That small part needs to get bigger and actually force you to vacation elsewhere. When other vacation spots are prospering, and Disney is seeig a decline, THAT'S when they will start doing something. Continuing to spend money at Disney won't help turn things around.

[#1donaldfan]

Sad to report that Disney has cut back on CM hours, food variety and portion size, cancelled live entertainment, shorter park hours and cutback on bus transportation all in the name of profit while continuing to raise prices. The days of the guest enjoyment coming are a thing of the past. Granted I still love going to WDW but the value for your $$$ is dropping.

.....while I agree with you on the cutback of hours and some other issues, I have to say that the days of guest enjoyment are coming to and end is just plain wrong. Why would anyone ever go back if they didn't enjoy the trip ?? If the guest enjoyment diminished it would only be a matter of a couple of years and the park would close it's doors. I think Disney may be experiencing some pains, but I'm sure they are doing everything in their power to keep in mind to continue with the superior guest enjoyment......:blush:

[DizneyRox]

I think Disney may be experiencing some pains, but I'm sure they are doing everything in their power to keep wall street happy at the expense of guest satisfaction and continue with cost cutting measures to keep profits in line with expectations......:blush:

I had to correct your post to more reflect the truth as I see it. :D

[Ian]

I have to admit ... our last trip in December the cutbacks were pretty noticeable. The one big area was in the food ... the buffets are just NOT worth it anymore. The food is beyond mediocre.

Also, the cast ... you could definitely see a dramatic reduction in the amount of cast around.

Not to mention the serious reduction in entertainment offerings, holiday decorations, and the like.

I'd like to tell you not to worry about it, but you'll most likely notice.

[brian2000boston]

I had to correct your post to more reflect the truth as I see it. :D

LOL

[MOJoe]

Come on guys. The days of customer enjoyment over? You have to be kidding.
First, i recognize that WDW is a business and must adjust to varying economic conditions. So when times get tough, things like fewer CM's are needed, and MK doesn't need to stay open till 2 a.m. Food costs can be contained by reducing some options, and you don't need quite as many busses running if there are fewer riders. My response to all this is - So What? These are the types of things that must be done to reduce expenses, and at the same time only minimally effect the guest experience.
WDW has had so many "extras" lately, live performances all over the place, YOAMD giveaways and such. Yeah, i'm sorry to see some of these things go. But all in all they were extras. Over and above what was promised or expected.
If things get really bad, and such things as Magical Express, Wishes, The British Invasion, Monorail rides.....ect, ect, are cut out, well That would be another matter. But until then, i'm counting the days until my next happy trip.

[lockedoutlogic]

Disney offering management buyouts will have a net ZERO effect on the day to day operations......

because here's the reality of it:

Managers don't DO anything.

You heard it here first......they actually usually just stand around and wait for something to happen.....

the day to day operations are carried out at a 99% level buy the services (mainly trash, stock, food service, and transport), maintenance, and those in polyester get ups......

I had a manager at CBR who spent a week....a full 40 hours.....working on her 401K.....

I know because I was her personal financial planner.....hope she dumped those shares of lucent.....

to be honest....the main day to day "responsibilites" of the manager are dealing with the customer complaints (which are usually ridiculous in nature), dealing with cast complaints (which are even more usually ridiculous in nature), and covering schedule gaps/ call outs.....most usually handled by throwing scraps of OT to the ever-hungry masses of hourlies.....

[Crow]

I actually wasnt going to go to WDW this yr due to cutbacks etc and going to go somewhere else.
its only because my sister mentioned my taking the nephews there, cause they have never been that i am going.

[Daisy'sMom]

I actually wasnt going to go to WDW this yr due to cutbacks etc and going to go somewhere else.
its only because my sister mentioned my taking the nephews there, cause they have never been that i am going.


I think you guys are going overboard with the cutbacks. We go at least once a month and we don't see any changes.....................Not going because of cutbacks? What cutbacks would make you go somewhere else? They must be life changing.

[DryCreek]

Then Disney would be just like going to Six Flags...LOL! Why bother!
Julie:mickey:

The Six Flags Over Texas (Arlington) park is in sad shape, indeed. You can tell that they have really deferred maintenance there. I hadn't been there in about 4 years, and we took our son there for his 18th birthday this year. He and my wife had both visited within the last 18 months, so the change wasn't as dramatic to them - but it sure got my attention!

Now, Six Flags Fiesta Texas (San Antonio) is a different case - still clean and well maintained.

How many theme parks will not make it through this economic downturn? Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach folded after only six months, They closed down Six Flags Astroworld a few years ago, and Opryland in Nashville shuttered about 8 or 9 years ago.

[DizneyRox]

I think you guys are going overboard with the cutbacks. We go at least once a month and we don't see any changes.....................Not going because of cutbacks? What cutbacks would make you go somewhere else? They must be life changing.
Well, it not the actual cutbacks that make the decision, it's the value for the money spent. I couldn't care less if a CM has less hours, really... But, when I need to fend for myself at a restaurant, or struggle with getting someplace because I coudln't find a CM, THAT is a problem. If I am now paying more for meals and getting less choice/quality than I used to, THAT is a problem. One that WILL make me look at alternates and possibly find a better value.

Cruises have always been a great value in my mind, but honestly, I ran out of places to cruise. I'm taking a look at them now and thinking about some of the new things I can do on those islands and how the value of a cruise compares to a Disney vacation.

I'm absolutely NOT forgoing a vacation this yxear due to the economy, BUT I'm looking to make my money stretch as far as it can go.

So, yeah, I do think the cutbacks SHOULD impact people's decisions to travel to WDW. Everyone should be looking to get good value for their money, it's just a smart move, ESPECAILLY in this economy.

BTW - I would guess that much of the reason you don't see the changes is because you go so often. I have gone a lot, and have seen dramatic changes in just about everything. Landscaping, maintenance, garbage collection, employee moral, the list goes on. I agree may of those probably wouldn't be seen by the casual visitor, but for many of us, I think they are glaring problems. There's not much left that might not be as noticable, and if you start impacting the general public, word of mouth WILL spread like wildfire. Right now, we're just a bunch of addicts complaining to ourselves.

[mrmcgiv]

We went in May 2007 and then in Dec 2008. Both Dh and I felt that the level of service and amenities in Dec 08 was NOT what it was in May 07. Most of the dining was fair, if not poor....We had a few good experiences. We were there for 8 nights and spent $800 + on DDP (2 kids and 2 adults) and it just seemed like A LOT for the quality and svc. While we liked CSR the level of svc (room was not clean, servers at PM) was not great. Maybe it was coincidence but I can't help but think that some cutbacks along the way had an effect.

I wonder if there are statistics anywhere about how the crowds have been reduced at WDW due to the economy? And if there are significantly fewer people/attendance then really there would have to be comparable cutbacks.

But I think we did feel it. We will go back, but maybe not for 2-3 years. After our 07 trip we could not wait to get back. Now we are not rushing back!!

[princessgirls]

Disney offering management buyouts will have a net ZERO effect on the day to day operations......

because here's the reality of it:

Managers don't DO anything.

You heard it here first......they actually usually just stand around and wait for something to happen.....

the day to day operations are carried out at a 99% level buy the services (mainly trash, stock, food service, and transport), maintenance, and those in polyester get ups......

I had a manager at CBR who spent a week....a full 40 hours.....working on her 401K.....

I know because I was her personal financial planner.....hope she dumped those shares of lucent.....

to be honest....the main day to day "responsibilites" of the manager are dealing with the customer complaints (which are usually ridiculous in nature), dealing with cast complaints (which are even more usually ridiculous in nature), and covering schedule gaps/ call outs.....most usually handled by throwing scraps of OT to the ever-hungry masses of hourlies.....

LOL!!!!!! You are so right!!!
Julie:mickey:

[princessgirls]

We went in May 2007 and then in Dec 2008. Both Dh and I felt that the level of service and amenities in Dec 08 was NOT what it was in May 07. Most of the dining was fair, if not poor....We had a few good experiences. We were there for 8 nights and spent $800 + on DDP (2 kids and 2 adults) and it just seemed like A LOT for the quality and svc. While we liked CSR the level of svc (room was not clean, servers at PM) was not great. Maybe it was coincidence but I can't help but think that some cutbacks along the way had an effect.

I wonder if there are statistics anywhere about how the crowds have been reduced at WDW due to the economy? And if there are significantly fewer people/attendance then really there would have to be comparable cutbacks.

But I think we did feel it. We will go back, but maybe not for 2-3 years. After our 07 trip we could not wait to get back. Now we are not rushing back!!

Latest number that I read was that attendance was down 7%. I didn't think that was horrible, but more of a sign of the times.
Julie

[peemagg]

I think attendance is down more than they are saying. Look at the current 4-3 promo. They have pushed back the date to book that promo 2 times already. If they were getting the numbers they wanted, they wouldn't be pushing that back.

I have been looking for things on the Flower and Garden Festival and there is only minimal info out there about it yet. I think that the reason for this is that if they aren't getting the attendance during that time frame, that that is another place that they are cutting back. If they don't post a bunch of stuff on it now, we can't get mad for them cutting out things. What we don't know won't hurt us attitude.

[p17bruins]

The wife and I just came back from WDW, we were there from 1-17 to 1-22. The first four days were busier than I've ever seen it for this time of year. We saw some rides with over an hour and a half wait time, which I have not seen in quite some time. I think this had a lot to do with the holiday weekend, and more Florida residence were there at this time. Our final full day, Wednesday was much slower then the previous days before it. We went to WDW four times last year and once so far this year and the crowds have been pretty heavy, from what we have seen. I have not noticed much of a difference in size, and if anything, it's been a bit more crowded then in years past... imo. The only cutback that we noticed was the bus transportation from resort to parks. It's not a perfect system, and we have had some long waits in the past, but this was by far the worst trip for transportation. We stayed at boardwalk, and two day in a row waited over an hour for the magic Kingdom bus. Then, when the bus came, it was full with people going to other resorts. Disney's excuse was they were only running one bus from Boardwalk to the Magic Kingdom, which we thought was outrageous. From the time we arrived at the bus stop, to the time we finally arrived at the MK, over 2 hours had elapsed... And this happened two days in a row. By the end of our vacation we noticed they had started putting employees at the bus stops to monitor the wait times, and try to improve the transportation system. They must have received many complaints that weekend. So even if they are running fewer buses, at the end of the day, I believe Disney is still going to work to make everyones stay enjoyable. Was I frustrated with the transportation? Yes!! Would that stop me from going again? Absolutely not!! :mickey:

[emmatink]

We go to DW for one reason and that is to watch the smile on our children's faces. As long as rides don't shut down and character's don't stop being available to take pictures with we are always headed to Disney for vacations. Keep spinning tea cups and keep plenty of gas in those go-carts.....we are on our way Disney! Heck ask our new gov't for a billion dollar bail out....I would give it to you before I would the wooden arrow makers or grass layers of the national mall!:thumbsup:

[Daisy'sMom]

BTW - I would guess that much of the reason you don't see the changes is because you go so often. I have gone a lot, and have seen dramatic changes in just about everything. Landscaping, maintenance, garbage collection, employee moral, the list goes on. I agree may of those probably wouldn't be seen by the casual visitor, but for many of us, I think they are glaring problems. There's not much left that might not be as noticable, and if you start impacting the general public, word of mouth WILL spread like wildfire. Right now, we're just a bunch of addicts complaining to ourselves.

I don't see any cutbacks that have had such glaring affects. I do not consider myself to be the "casual visitor" as you seem to think. I have been on Main Street since before the MK opened, watching the framework being placed for the castle. I don't bother with cruises, I don't bother with other vacation destinations. My family is fanactical when it comes to Disney. We always have been. I have witnessed many changes, but none that has affected my visit. Landscaping? I don't know when you visit, but perhaps you are witnessing a time when weather has played a part. Maintenance? You've got me there, I don't pay attention to things like that unless a ride is down. Garbage? Perhaps if people weren't such slobs and actually walked over to a trash can to deposit their garbage, kept the bathrooms cleaned and just didn't assume someone would pick up after them. As far as CMs moral, for the most part they are above the norm. Go to any restuarant, any store, and look at what you get. It is not the cutbacks that cause these problems, it is people in general today. We are so quick to criticize, we are so quick to complain, and still so complacent. :mickey:

[sndral]

I did a little web searching and came up w/ the 2001 cuts which was the last attendance (resorts/parks) downswing @ WDW :
EMH am hours eliminated and character caravans @ resort lobbies substituted - w/out warning
POFQ closed - again w/out warning - guests arrived to find they'd been moved elsewhere w/out notice
POP construction stopped/mothballed
Fees added for formerly free valet parking
Room package delivery stopped
Entertainment cutbacks - times and days of shows reduced, fewer street cms
One of DTD's bus stops closed
DTD's boats closed (anchored)
Restaurants closed (flame tree bbq), or offerings/times reduced (Hoop dee doo late show eliminated, for example)
Some rides shut down
reports of less upkeep, fewer buses.
Be interesting to see how disney responds this time around. So far -
fewer xmas decorations
fewer buses
entertainment cutbacks
Pleasure island closed

[DizneyRox]

I don't see any cutbacks that have had such glaring affects. I do not consider myself to be the "casual visitor" as you seem to think. I have been on Main Street since before the MK opened, watching the framework being placed for the castle. I don't bother with cruises, I don't bother with other vacation destinations. My family is fanactical when it comes to Disney. We always have been. I have witnessed many changes, but none that has affected my visit. Landscaping? I don't know when you visit, but perhaps you are witnessing a time when weather has played a part. Maintenance? You've got me there, I don't pay attention to things like that unless a ride is down. Garbage? Perhaps if people weren't such slobs and actually walked over to a trash can to deposit their garbage, kept the bathrooms cleaned and just didn't assume someone would pick up after them. As far as CMs moral, for the most part they are above the norm. Go to any restuarant, any store, and look at what you get. It is not the cutbacks that cause these problems, it is people in general today. We are so quick to criticize, we are so quick to complain, and still so complacent. :mickey:
Actually, you misunderstood me... You are not the casual visitor, you would be a frequent visitor. More frequent than most.

I would define a casual visitor as someone who goes at most, once a year, maybe every other year or even less often. Those will probably not notice many of these changes. They may ask themselves when they witness something, but then think it's a figment of their imagination.

Lanscaping? You haven't notice the uncut grass and overgrown bushes throughout the property? You haven't noticed they now do a lot more planting during normal (guest) hours instead of off hours?

Garbage? I'm not only referring to the litter around the parks, that IS guests being slobs, BUT there are always a number of overflowing garbage cans. I've been witness to litter ON RIDES that's been there for at least a week. I once saw a SHOE, a real live SHOE in a ride scene for a week. How does someone lose a shoe and not report it? I've also noticed a large number of garbage trucks driving around doing their business during guest hours, which I assume was done after hours in the past.

Maintenance... Painting, lights burned out, attractions not working correctly, effects broken. How long has the first scene in The Great Movie ride been down? How often is the Yeti in B mode? How long was the poachers jeep out before they just changed the story? Have the gysers been working on the same ride lately? The list goes on...

Most if not all of these happened all before these cutbacks we're all complaining about.

Prices have gone up steadily during this whole time, and I suspect ticket prices will go up again this year. Anyone want to take that bet?

[CaptainJessicaSparrow]

More than half of the AAs on Splash today were down, as well as the cannons and the water on the big drop. But the ride was still running.

[DixieBelle]

CaptainJessicaSparrow
More than half of the AAs on Splash today were down, as well as the cannons and the water on the big drop. But the ride was still running.

:( :shake:

I thought Splash Mountain just went through a refurbishment?

[cgriff]

DISNEY HAS CUT BACK ON CM HOURS...
It wasn't so long ago that there were posts about castmember burnout, working too many hours because of EMH, or CMs that weren't really up to the "Disney" standard. These complaints possibly made Disney's decision to cut hours a very easy one.

CUT FOOD VARIETY AND PORTION SIZE...
I blame the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). You know, the Food Police action group that got *real* movie popcorn butter outlawed and has forced numerous restraurants to change their menues and limit portion sizes... Yep. I wouldn't be surprised if they were preparing to shake down Disney like they have so many other food service businesses...

CUTBACK ON BUS TRANSPORTATION...
Well, the environmentalist "Green" groups are happy about this, right? I know they are gleeful about the fact that the Burning Settler's Cabin is no longer burning... I will never forgive them for ruining that... never!

[Townie]

We were unable to to to WDW for the past two years because of the financial mess we are all in.

This year with the buy 4 get 3 promotion, free $200 gift card and other extras I can't afford not to go.

Seems to me WDW is going way out for people! I love you guys!!!!:mickey: